


The Final Performance

by mythicalamity



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Girlfriends/No Wives, Angst and Romance, Hand Jobs, Hotel Sex, M/M, Missionaries, Religious Conflict, Resolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:35:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25618975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythicalamity/pseuds/mythicalamity
Summary: Thank you to@fanbabblefor helping me cross my t’s and dot my i’s on this one. And for always keeping my DMs spicy 🔥
Relationships: Rhett McLaughlin/Link Neal
Comments: 11
Kudos: 62





	The Final Performance

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to [@fanbabble](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/fanbabble) for helping me cross my t’s and dot my i’s on this one. And for always keeping my DMs spicy 🔥

Rhett and Link had always worked as a team. Like, an actual team. There was no strong one and weak one; dominant one and submissive one; superhero and sidekick. Well, sometimes there was. But the roles were not automatically assigned or assumed, and they flowed back and forth with how either of them were feeling on any given day. 

When Link was feeling anxious or in his own head, Rhett would intuitively take the reins and carry the duo. Or help Link to find his confidence and guide him toward asserting himself. 

When Rhett felt physically overwhelmed because of the intermittent aches and pains that seemed to appear the second they’d graduated from college, largely due to his stature; or when Rhett felt so mentally overwhelmed from trying to smooth things over for everyone all the time and keep the momentum going, Link was there to shift the energy or adapt their performances to give Rhett a less taxing role. 

It was an unspoken dance. An ebb and flow between them. Complementary forces at work.

That night in their shared hotel room - paid for by Cru, in exchange for services rendered at that year’s Christmas Conference, Rhett was feeling weak. And Link could see it.

Their performance had been flawless, but emotionally Rhett seemed to have left it all out on the stage. Link easily read his mood, and assumed the driver’s position in their rental car.

They didn’t normally drink, but Rhett had uncharacteristically suggested they grab a six-pack before turning into their room for the night. Link had agreed with a “Whatever you need, bo” type of grace. Link had intended to be comforting, but he could see it in the way that Rhett cringed that the coddling only seemed to twist his insides even more. 

The room was furnished with two full-beds, but as they made small talk about the day’s events, they sat on the edge of the same bed. Like two people sitting on the same side of a booth, rather than across from one another. Link knew that if he’d seen other people orienting themselves in that way, he’d have found it odd. But when it was him and Rhett, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. 

After a couple of beers, and Link being acutely aware that he was carrying most of the conversation, he finally spoke up. “You know you did great today. The crowd really was into it. I mean,” He scooted to sit closer to Rhett, and gently took Rhett’s hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. 

It wasn’t the first time. They sometimes did this. Held hands. It was comforting, grounding. 

“All performers  _ do  _ have bad days, and I’d tell ya if this was one of ‘em. I just think this might be more a case of you being a harsher self-critic than the general population. And you should knock it off, that’s typically my department!”

Rhett looked into Link’s clear blue eyes, and almost immediately had to look away. It was like the complexity of his emotions was too intense. 

“You’re too good to me, man.” Rhett said, his voice sounding hoarse and raw. Partially from speaking all day, and partially from the tightness and nerves accompanying his words. “Like, literally. All you do is lift me up and make me feel better, but all I ever seem to do is make you  _ worse _ .”

Link’s eyebrows knit together with confusion. “That’s just not true, man. You always—“

“I don’t know how much longer we can do this. I’m sorry, I’ll speak for myself. I don’t know how much longer  _ I _ can do this. Knowing…” Rhett’s eyes drifted to their hands, still laced together. “The people that we speak to, the people that we work for… They might like what we have to offer them, but they're never gonna like… who we  _ are _ .”

Link’s heart accelerated. He swallowed the lump of fear in his throat. This was suddenly a lot deeper than a matter of Rhett’s post-performance ego. Link took a steadying breath before simply stating:

“Then we quit.”

Rhett’s eyes went wide. “Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“You don’t need to, like,” Rhett chuckled softly. “Overthink this for a while?”

Link leaned over and kissed the corner of Rhett’s mouth. 

It wasn’t the first time. They sometimes did this, too. Kissed each other. This was also… comforting. 

“I’m done overthinking. I’ve been thinkin about this for  _ years _ . And there’s no scenario where, when put up against anything else: work, school, even God…” The sound dropped out of Link’s voice a bit, as if he was self-censoring ‘the G-word’. But Rhett still seemed impressed by what he was trying to articulate. Possibly more so, given his apparent unease in saying it. “There’s no scenario where love doesn’t win.  _ Our _ love. There’s no way our love makes me worse.”

Rhett squeezed Link’s hand harder, and he seemed to be having to force himself to find his voice. 

“I just… I can’t keep  _ lying _ like this. Actually, I can. And that’s kind of what scares me. I  _ could _ convincingly succeed like this, but… I’m choosing not to. Because  _ this _ feels more important. And I don’t wanna keep faking for a living, or having to hide what feels most true to me.”

They sat in silence for a moment. 

They had just made a huge decision. Their community, their families, their livelihoods had all been wrapped up in the ministry. 

They were going to have to start from scratch. And that should have felt like the heaviest thing in the world. But, in Link’s eyes, rebuilding it all  _ with Rhett _ made everything else seem so light. He breathed easier, and hadn’t even recognized how the weight had been pressing down on him all this time - until it was gone. 

Link smiled, head swirling with all the doors that had been unlocked. 

Rhett finally broke their parallel moments of silent reflection. “Kind of a shame we didn’t have an opportunity to make a big to-do out of our last performance.”

“It wasn’t our last performance,” Link assured him. “Just our last one in that context.”

Rhett mirrored Link’s smile, and Link could tell it was the first genuine smile Rhett had put on all day. 

Link lifted the hand that was not entwined with Rhett’s, and softly stroked his cheek. This time it felt different. It was more than comfort or balance, though those things were certainly still there. It was the quiet thrill of hope and possibility. 

Rhett leaned in to kiss Link more fiercely than either of them had ever dared. These were not the chaste kisses that they sometimes offered one another. Link swore he could feel  _ teeth _ ? 

Link followed his instincts, and what he had interpreted as Rhett’s lead. He parted his lips, unclenched his jaw and welcomed Rhett’s tongue into his mouth. 

Rhett moaned, and it was all so overwhelmingly ‘everything he’d wanted’ that Link felt like he couldn’t breathe. He felt like gasping, hyperventilating, holding his breath - all at once. 

Rhett backed off slowly, and Link was sure he must be ruining it. 

“Are you okay?” Rhett asked. “I mean, am I-? Is  _ this _ okay?”

Link nodded emphatically. “It is. I’m sorry. This is just a lot, and… Are we gonna…?”

Link didn’t exactly finish his thought, resting his front teeth biting into his bottom lip in an abandoned attempt at a fff- sound. 

Rhett soothed him with a quiet “Shhh.” He shook his head ‘no’ and moved his lips over Link’s jawline, and down his long and slender neck. “You feel like a heart attack in my hands, honey. I don’t think it would be a good idea for us to… do  _ that _ tonight.”

Link’s heart hammered inside his rib cage, and he focused on just finding his rhythm in breathing. A nervous whine escaped him, and he tried to turn it into a more confident moan. He didn’t want Rhett to stop, but he also didn’t know what he was supposed to do to make him keep going. 

“Should I—“

Rhett held a finger to Link’s lips. “You don’t have to do a thing. Just… let me show you what you’re choosing when you choose me. Can I take your shirt off?”

“Yes,” Link said it so quickly that it made Rhett grin smugly. Link blushed. “Like you said, I’m probably not ready to, like, go all the way? But, you gotta believe me, I really do want this… in general. Want it with you.”

Rhett’s voice was soft and deep as he assured Link, “I believe you. Just tell me if anything is too much.”

Link nodded, and Rhett unbuttoned his dress shirt and slid it off his angled shoulders. Link eased his back down into the mattress as his mind relaxed into the reality of what was happening. 

Rhett was kissing him all over. 

Worshipping his body with soft wet lips, and beautifully contrasting sharp scrapes of stubble from his chin. Link arched his back a bit to offer himself more completely. Silently begging for Rhett to touch him; to love him. 

Rhett began to take off his own clothes, slowly. Well, slowly from Link’s perspective anyway. Soon enough they were both down to their boxers. Rhett lay down, his half naked body hovering over Link’s. He lowered himself so Link could feel the warmth of his skin directly against his own. It threatened to take his breath away all over again. 

“Hey,” Link offered awkwardly, an attempt to break the tension. 

“Hey,” Rhett returned in a puff of breath before reuniting their lips. Rhett simultaneously lowered his hand to rub it over Link’s tented boxers. 

The soft whimpers Link had been murmuring into Rhett’s lips turned to moans, and Link felt torn between letting his eyes fly wide open or squeezing them shut. But he’d waited for this for  _ so  _ long, he wanted to see everything. It felt a little unnatural to keep sneaking peeks through half-closed eyes, but the degree to which making out with Rhett in this hotel bed felt like the most natural thing in the world more than made up for it. 

Rhett was really going for it. There were nibbling teeth, ragged breaths, tongues fighting for space. Link tried to study the patterns of Rhett’s movements, but every time he thought he’d unlocked his rhythm Rhett would intentionally change it up to keep Link guessing. 

Link shamelessly grinded up into Rhett’s open palm. 

“Touch me?” Link husked into Rhett’s lips. 

Rhett lifted his head. His cheeks were scarlet and his eyes were wide and excited. “You’re sure?”

Link’s heart ached at how delicately Rhett treated him. He raised a hand to cup Rhett’s bristly cheek, and stared into the heat behind his stormy eyes with all the love he could summon before he spoke firmly and clearly.

“Touch. Me.”

Rhett licked a wet stripe up his hand, for all the good that’d do, and slipped his hand beneath Link’s shorts. 

Link clung to Rhett more tightly, which gave Rhett a moment’s pause. His hand was large, warm, and entirely too still. Rhett kissed him and kissed him and kissed him some more, until Link bucked his hips and they both groaned into each other’s mouths in a way that felt so intimate that Link didn’t know if he was gonna come or cry. He didn’t particularly want to do either just yet. 

“Please, Rhett?”

Rhett began to move his hand with slow strokes, reading Link’s rough grunts and reedy whines perfectly as he began to move more quickly, and a little more roughly. 

Link was holding onto Rhett for dear life, his face buried into Rhett’s collarbone as he couldn’t find the coordination to even kiss him back. Meanwhile, Rhett was able to balance massaging his shoulder with the arm that held Link close to his body, touching Link’s cock in a way that was making him come completely undone, and rutting his own need against Link’s leg. A side-effect of his best friend’s lifelong athleticism that Link never had never fully considered. 

“This good?” 

“Gggh, yessss!” Link hissed, abandoning his first instinct, as he felt that what was happening between them was none of God’s business. This felt far holier. “Just keep… Nnnngh. Rhett?” 

He heard Rhett’s breath hitch at Link having spoken his name like this. 

“I’m gonna…” Link gasped for air like a man happily drowning. “Just keep… Nnn, Rhett. Make me come!”

With only a few more skillful strokes, Link’s pleasure spilled over into Rhett’s hand. Link trembled in his arms, and closed his eyes as their bodies parted slightly for air. 

Link was nervous to look at Rhett. A guy couldn’t get much more vulnerable than this, and he couldn’t help wondering what Rhett thought of it. Was he seeing someone different when he looked at Link now? Now that he was intimately acquainted with Link like this - nakedly weak and needy? Would Rhett regret what they’d done? What if he apologized, or wanted to move on having gotten Link’s body out of his system? Link’s lungs crumpled in on themselves and he couldn’t breathe. 

“Link? Are you all right?”

Link nodded automatically. 

“Can ya… can ya look at me, please?” Rhett’s voice sounded almost as fragile as Link felt. “If you don’t, I might think that you…  _ can’t _ .”

Link’s eyes flew open. 

“There you are. How… how do you feel, honey?”

Link searched the catalogue of his mind for words that could possibly come close to describing how he was feeling. 

“Complete?”

Yes. That felt right. And it seemed to resonate with Rhett as well, his tense body eased as he lowered his face to gently kiss Link’s sweaty forehead. Then his nose. His chin. He hovered a breath away from Link’s lips. 

“I love you,” Rhett softly exhaled. 

Link drank in those three words like a man having his first taste of water after being lost in a desert his entire life. 

“I love you,” Link breathed back. 

He rolled Rhett onto his back and began to slide down his body, tugging on the elastic of his underwear to expose Rhett’s heavy, swollen cock. 

He looked up the incredible length of Rhett’s body, full of adoration and determination. He honestly didn’t know  _ what _ they were giving up tonight. But he did know that they had to be getting the better deal, whatever it was. 

He licked his lips, and lowered them to Rhett’s leaking tip to wrap his warm mouth around him - and show Rhett what heaven really felt like. 


End file.
